On Tuesday, October 21st, President Trump once again urged Democratic senators to vote in support of the government shutdown during a luncheon at the Rose Garden.
President Trump invited over fifty Republican congressmen to the White House event on Tuesday, but Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who consistently voted against the short-term spending bills, was absent.
Tuesday marked the 21st day of the government shutdown. The previous day, most Democratic senators voted against advancing the short-term Republican funding bill passed by the House of Representatives, marking the 11th time they’ve voted against it. Democrats continue to call for their desired provisions, including extending subsidies for the soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the funding bill.
The President blames the continued government shutdown on Democrats, accusing them of not passing a bill to provide temporary funding for the government, calling them “obstructionists”.
“You always vote for the delay of the ACA,” Trump called out to Democrats, adding, “Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats need to vote for a clean, bipartisan short-term government spending bill (CR) to restart our government.”
He referred to the CR bill passed by the House in September. The Republican-controlled House passed the proposal with a slim margin of 217 votes in favor to 212 votes against in mid-September.
Democrats are attempting to pressure Republicans to extend the ACA’s expanded subsidies, while Republicans want Democrats to vote to reopen the government before negotiating on healthcare insurance.
“Today, I urge every Senate Democrat to stop this madness,” said the President. “I ask them to be more reasonable; this approach is not working. They are losing badly in the polls. The public knows what they are doing wrong.”
The President reiterated his plans to cut down on the “Democratic priorities” and projects during the government shutdown, stating that these items will be permanently reduced.
Subsequently, Trump had White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought stand up and introduced him, jokingly calling him “Darth Vader” from the Star Wars movies, referring to him as a good person.
Trump warned that Vought is slashing Democratic priorities, permanently cutting them, making them irrecoverable. He claimed that it is the Democrats causing the government shutdown, essentially permitting the actions taken by the White House.
So far, Trump and Vought have met multiple times during the government shutdown to discuss the layoffs of federal employees. Vought earlier this month stated that if the government shutdown persists, layoffs could exceed “over 10,000 people”.
Last week, Trump announced that he would release a list of Democratic-supported projects that are facing cuts.
“Many of the projects they cut, like the $20 billion New York project – that we cut – won’t be coming back,” Trump said at the White House today. “A lot of these projects, they can’t recall.”
OMB announced last week that due to the government shutdown, they are considering canceling $11 billion in “low-priority projects” with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including wastewater treatment and water system design and construction in the Queens area of New York.
Trump stated that these projects are “harmful to our country”, and are things “we don’t want”. However, he also left room for negotiation, adding, “maybe we’ll talk to them.”